New adventures!

Quilt market is about to happen in Portland. I wasn't going to go, I wasn't. And then, as I knew it would, people started talking about going to quilt market and then of course I wanted to be there as well. So at the 11th hour (almost, 2 weeks ago) I decided I should go. After all, I live a mere 90miles south of Portland.

So I embarked on this crazy sewing spree - because all of a sudden I needed to get ready. If you are going to market and you are a purse designer and a foundation block designer, which I guess I am, you need a new purse right? You can't carry your store bought bag around.

As such, I have resurrected this Urban Hipster pattern. This pattern has a long and troublesome past. I originally designed this purse, around 4 years ago ~ or something like that. I got so many complements on it around town that I decided to write up the pattern. It would've been my first pattern. But then the hard drive crashed and of course it was not backed up so I lost all the pictures I took for the tutorial and after that I was just done with the whole business. Didn't even want to think about it after that.

Fast forward a couple years to quilt market and suddenly I feel the need to resurrect this bag. It's really my go-to bag. I have made countless numbers of these bags and love them to death. They have traveled all over the place with me and my Mom, mother-in-law, and daughter who also each own one. So I think it's finally time to share with all of you. I present, after much delay, the Urban Hipster.

This bag might actually need to be renamed because I think in the interim I may have seen another bag with the same name, but for now it'll stay this way until i think of something better. The Urban Hipster is a cross body bag with an adjustable strap so you can wear it cross body or shorten it right up to shoulder bag size. It's just big enough to hold your wallet, cell and a few other essentials and small enough to easily fit inside your picnic basket. This bag is designed for the active woman. You can wear it on your bike trip to the park, to the festivals, picnics, you name it - it'll go anywhere. Inspired by the host city of Quilt Market herself, Portland. The pattern needs a few tweaks but I promise it will be out in the next couple of months.

The Hipster has lots of zippy compartments for all your stuff. Easy zip installation, I promise!

And now I'm off to market. It's a dream come true! I am so looking forward to meeting up with all my blogging friends from around the globe, seeing the publishers, manufacturers and fabric celebs. It's going to be overwhelming I'm sure. I will be logging it all on Instagram, so follow me @trilliumdesign there if you want to see the pics. Happy Sewing my friends!

Doctor.Who.Along Block 1

Welcome fellow Whovians!! Are you ready to get your Doctor on?  Soma and I are so excited to finally get this quilt-along underway.

Here we go ladies and gents it's time for Block 1.

Block 1 is the iconic Tardis.  Could it be anything else?

This block is all straight-line sewing and while it's not a beginner block, it only differs in that it has a few more pieces.  You do need some basic foundation piecing skills for this and all our blocks.  Instructions are included along with the pattern pieces.

You can download the pattern instructions here or through Craftsy.  Don't forget to add your finished block photo to the Flickr Doctor.Who.Along photo pool.  I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Happy Sewing!  Geronimo!!!

...from zero to fifty in 30 seconds...

This may have been the fastest quilt I have ever made. Ok maybe it wasn't done in 30 seconds but it was done in a matter of weeks.

On a whim I decided to start on this baby books quilt designed by Ayumi Takahashi author of Patchwork Please. The book was just so inspiring and I was looking for an excuse to make something out of it. Enter baby boy of family members that live in Washington state. They are not due until later in the summer so I have plenty of time right? Famous last words. Anyway, I had some time so I whipped up a few blocks, then a few more and before you knew it the quilt top was done. I managed to sandwich it pretty recently when we had a bout of nice weather.

Then whoa (inert a screeching stop sound effect)! We get a phone call, they are coming down in a week! WHaaat? Uh oh. So I had to quilt this up super quick. It’s a pretty modern design so I needed something a bit more different than just plain Free-motion stippling. I wanted some curves, and then I spied my quick-curves ruler (so far unused despite the best plans) hanging on my wall. Lightbulb!

 So I decided to draw on a set of lines using that ruler and then I just used my walking foot to do the rest. I offset the curves here and there and decided to fill in the gaps with some pebbles.

Voila! I marathon-ed the quilting job to get it completed a mere 24 hours prior to their arrival. Whew! That was a whirlwind.

But now it’s done and I can move onto baby quilt #2 which I need in a few weeks if not sooner. Happy Sewing!